The more general your keywords are, the more they will cost you per click, because there is more competition. It is in your best interest to ditch those general keywords, or at least move them into their own ad groups, and focus on your targeted keywords that are more specific to your product, service, or brand.

Recently, I was bidding on general, non-specific keywords, and there was no competition for them whatsoever. Mine were the only sponsored ads being shown, and my quality score was rated either “okay” or “great.” However, I was being asked to pay up to $0.50 per keyword bid in order to show ads for these general keywords. If I tried to lower the bids, they became inactive. I e-mailed Google for a solution that would lower my bids, and this is what they came up with:

“Effective keywords are relevant to your products and accurately reflect the content of your website. You might consider deleting general keywords, or moving them to a different ad group, as it’s important that an ad text and landing page are closely tied to the keyword list.

There is also a chance that your keywords that are well targeted may be too specific. Although specific keywords are usually better than general ones, keywords that are too specific can limit your ad exposure. For example, few people will likely search for the phrase “minocycline rifampin impregnated catheter.”

This worked for me to an extent. I did break out my keywords and put them into their own ad groups. About a week later I did notice that I was able to lower bids on some of my keywords, but not others. I’m still working on the issue, however.

I’m a huge fan of Google and their new Apps software package. It’s truly fascinating to me to watch them take the idea of a web-application to new heights. This week, in an effort to continue growing in this new market space, Google began distributing emails to AdWords advertisers. The email boasts the new programs (email, calendar, spreadsheet, etc) and offers examples of how they can be easily used in any office environment.

Considering the massive email list Google has from its AdWords advertisers, this campaign will surely bring in a solid number of new users. Admittedly, I don’t know how well Google Apps would work for a medium to large sized company. But for those small businesses out there, the basic price tag (free) is really hard to beat! As an added incentive, Google is offering free live webinars for new users of the Apps suite. I suppose this is why Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer thinks Google is insane!

With the new algorithm changes from Google and Yahoo!, having a good quality score is an added challenge in the PPC world; and your ad text is a big part of having a great quality score. Here are five tips I have used personally that helped me gain control of my accounts through ad text testing.

1. Call to action: Speaking with Google and Yahoo! frequently, they suggest that when leading customers to a page where they need to fill out a form or download a whitepaper, tell the customers they also will do this in your ad text. For example, “Download our whitepaper on e-mail marketing today.” That way, users know what they’re getting into before they click. I think it’s a great idea if you’re working for conversions; if you’re just driving clicks, it may turn someone away. Use your “calls to action” wisely. This test seems to be working on some of my accounts. Nothing dramatic yet, though.

2. Keyword smothering: Yahoo! has been adamant about having your keywords smothered in your ad text title, short description, long description, and URL in order to get a great quality score. These guidelines make it harder to get creative and pull people in. I tested Yahoo!’s theory on keyword smothering. In one instance, I cleared stats for all three of my ad texts for one ad group. The first one had my keyword in every line of my text, including my URL. The second had just one instance of my keyword. Number three had the keyword in only the title and URL. The results? Strangely enough, the third ad text had a click-through rate (CTR) of 1.19%. The first ad text, with the keyword smothered, had a CTR of .93%. The second, with only one instance of my keyword, had a CTR of 0.55%. Since this seemed to prove Google and Yahoo! wrong for the time being, I will be testing this theory more in the future. But it’s something to try for yourself.

3. Dynamic ad text: Make sure you learn how to use dynamic ad text correctly before putting it into place or your ads could look strange to the user. If you have a lot of different types of keywords within one ad group, this is the best time to use dynamic ad text testingâ€”although if you have many different keywords in one ad group, they should really be broken out into separate ad groups, but that’s another discussion. In four out of five cases in which I have tested dynamic ad text, it proved to work better than non-dynamic ad textâ€”although I don’t usually use dynamic ad text in the descriptions, only in the title. I feel the user may catch on to our logic, and then be turned off.

4. Get creative: Take a look at your competitors’ ads. Are they just like yours? If you’re testing, you shouldn’t be afraid to get creative. You want to find the ad that works best, right? Use punctuation if you can, such as question marks or exclamation points. But most of all, get into your customers head and think of some words that might catch their attention. Marketing studies show that men tend to follow high-tech buzz words, while women are looking for deals.

5. Numbers: I’ve heard this has worked for some people but not others. Putting phone numbers in your ad text just might help your click-through rates. Some people may be looking online just to find a phone number. This might catch their attention and they may possibly click through. Or the number might just catch someone’s attention more than another ad does. You can also put in percentages or money values. I have an ad that consistently performs better and the text goes something like this: Over 40% of e-mails don’t reach the in-box. If something is on sale, put the sale price in the text. For example: Personalized Vases on Sale, $24.99. You get the point.

My point overall is that perhaps smothering your keywords in your ad text won’t always do the trick. In my experience, when I get creative is when I see the majority of my ads performing better.

March 20, 2007

Home > Ad Texts > The Long and Short of It (Ad Text Lengths within Panama)

Within the old Yahoo! interface, users were allotted one ad text and it could contain up to 180 characters. Every keyword was assigned a title, a description, and a destination URL. In Panama’s ad groups, keyword groups are served with specified ad texts.

Each ad description is allotted one headline, two lines of ad text, a display URL, and a destination URL. Advertisers have the option of using a short ad text and a long ad text. The short description can be up 70 characters in length and the long description can be up to 180 characters in length.

The short text appears within Yahoo! search results. The long text appears within Yahoo! partner sites, via Yahoo!’s content distribution network, that can accommodate longer ad text descriptions. The content distribution network includes sites such as CNN, ESPN, USA Today, AllTheWeb, eBay, National Geographic, iVilliage, and many others.

We suggest utilizing both the long and short description options. If you’re going to use one description, though, we suggest using the short one. If you opt to use only the long text, your ad texts will be cut off at 70 characters within Yahoo! search results as well as within quite a bit of the content network. This means your entire description will not be displayed.